


Five Things That Never Happened To Lily Evans (Potter)

by krabapple



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-23
Updated: 2011-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-27 21:50:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/300411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krabapple/pseuds/krabapple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five different moments.  Five different ways Lily's life might have gone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Things That Never Happened To Lily Evans (Potter)

I.

The envelope was heavy, a rich cream color with emerald writing in curling calligraphy on the outside. The green on the envelope was a shade darker than her own eyes, which she thought contrasted horribly with her garish red hair. A walking Christmas decoration, she was, was Lily Evans.

 _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Lily sighed, and opened the jewelry box her grandmother had given to her before she had passed away. Lily picked up the top compartment, revealing a hidden layer of red velvet underneath. She carefully placed the letter inside, the cream color sharply accented by the deep, rich red. She put the top compartment back on top, and shut the box.

Petunia had refused, and so would she.

"Lily," her father's voice drifted from downstairs. "Ready to go to the shore?"

"Coming, Dad," Lily called, grabbing her ratty book bag before she headed down the stairs.

 

II.

Lily did her best not to squirm. It was unnerving to be up here, presented before the entire school, all the other first years watching with awe in the line, the bigger boys and girls sitting at four long tables, cheering or clapping or hissing as the occasion warranted.

Lily didn't like to be on display. She preferred being behind the scenes, making things work from the inside out. She folded her hands in her lap and looked down at her shoes, hoping furiously that she wasn't blushing too much as the big, musty old hat was placed on her head. The last thing she wanted to do was make a fool of herself.

The hat started talking to her; how it could do that, she didn't know--it was a _hat_ after all. She didn't pay much attention, and never answered it, just kept her eyes on her shoes and her hands in her lap. Finally, when she could stand the gaze of her soon-to-be-schoolmates no longer, she stopped the hat's prattling with a whispered, "Oh, do get on with it."

The hat ceased whispering in her ear and finally shouted so all could hear:

"Slytherin!"

 

III.

James Potter was an evil, obnoxious little toad. He picked fights, bullied other students, ran around pulling stupid pranks with those equally stupid friends of his.

And worst of all, he wanted to _go out with her_.

Lily thought her only choice was to put an end to his foolish, puppy dog-like way of following her around. So she did.

James hadn't seen it coming, she knew, and she almost felt sorry for him when his oatmeal bowl blew apart in the middle of breakfast in the Great Hall, splattering not only oatmeal, but shards of glass all over his face, hair and chest. He wasn't hurt, not really, but the broken bowl and the spilled oatmeal did spell out "LEAVE EVANS ALONE YOU STUPID PRAT" all over his person. James ran from the hall as the laughter broke out, blooming to proportions Lily hadn't heard yet in her five years at Hogwarts.

Snape smiled at her from the Slytherin table, and she smiled back.

Prank the prankster, and he never forgives you, Lily knew. James Potter never asked her out again.

 

IV.

"I don't like it," Lily said in the dark.

James' weight shifted beside her. She could tell he had rolled over so he could see her, see her lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling.

"I think it makes sense, Lily," he said. "Everyone will assume we chose Sirius. He can take all of the heat, while Peter will keep the secret safe."

Lily didn't answer.

"Sirius can stand up to the pressure. I know he can," James whispered, his breath making small wisps against her cheek.

Lily still didn't look at him. She was thinking of Harry, sleeping peacefully down the hall.

"It's not Sirius that worries me."

"Peter . . ." James started.

Lily made up her mind. "Please, James. Let's stick with Sirius, or take Professor Dumbledore up on his offer. Please." She groped for his hand in the dark, and found it, wrapping her own around it. "James."

James sighed. "Dumbledore, then. Sirius can still run interference if need be. One more layer between Voldemort and the truth."

Lily relaxed, and turned her head to look at James. "Thank you," she said.

James smiled crookedly at her, and Lily felt her eyes fill. "Anything for you, Lily," he said before he took her in his arms.

 

V.

Everything was chaos. Baskets and luggage and swarms of adults and children underfoot _everywhere_.

Had Platform 9 and 3/4 been so busy when she was first heading off to Hogwarts? Lily thought it must have been, but the perspective of an adult was certainly different than that of an eleven-year-old. Lily scanned the platform, noticing all kinds of wizards and witches, some of them familiar, some of them not. There were a few Muggle-borns, too, it seemed; they all looked out of place and a bit anxious, especially the parents, whose eyes darted back and forth. But Lily was glad to see them, to see the children, to know that Voldemort's campaign had not succeeded. Lily, in her own time, had been one of them. She spotted a girl with bushy brown hair standing between two well-dressed Muggles. The parents were saying good-bye, and the girl had a scared, but excited, air about her. Lily knew how she felt.

Lily winced a bit as the Weasley clan congregated a bit nearby; Molly flashed Lily a knowing smile. Lily smiled back and waved at Ron, who blushed to the roots of his hair while half-listening to his mother's instructions. Six-year-old Rose, who had been holding on tightly to Lily's hand, suddenly bounded off to talk to her "big-girl friend" Ginny.

Lily turned back from making sure Rose got to the Weasleys safely just in time to see James and Harry burst through the wall, breathing heavily and giggling madly. Harry absent-mindedly pushed his glasses back up his nose with one hand; she heard him ask James if they could do it again, and heard James' amused laugh, though she missed his exact reply. Instead, he tousled Harry's hair as the two walked over to where Lily was standing, and she saw Harry's slight wince at the old gesture. She hid a smile as Harry came up to her, pushing his luggage cart.

She put on her best Mum Face and began the inquiry. "You have everything you need?" she asked.

"Yes, Mum."

"Quills?"

"Yes."

"Parchment?"

"Yes."

"All of your books?"

"Yes, Mum."

"The clothes we picked out?"

"Mum . . ."

"Including your new robes and shoes? And your wand? What about your scales and your potions cauldrons?"

"Dad . . ." Harry looked at his father for mercy.

"The broomstick Uncle Sirius smuggled to you?"

"Lily," James started.

"And the chocolate frogs and other candy from Uncle Remus?"

Harry was giggling by this point. "Yes, Mum," he managed.

Lily smiled, and bent down to kiss her boy on the cheek, taking his head in her hands. She only grinned wider at Harry's look of horror at her motherly affection.

She held his face between her palms and said, "Harry James Potter. You are to follow the rules and do your best work. You are to make friends and have fun and do as the professors say. And you are to write us once a week, or else I shall be cross with you, and Christmas will not be a happy holiday."

Harry smiled a bit, mirroring the smirk that was also on his father's face completely. "Yes, Mum," he said again.

Lily kissed the other cheek, and let him go. "Now. I'm sure your father can help you board the train. Ron's just over there; you might want to go together and share a compartment." Harry's eyes lit up at the mention of his friend.

"And be nice to that girl with the brown hair. I think she's Muggle-born, and that's always hard when you first start Hogwarts; I should know. She could probably use a friend or two."

" _Okay_ , Mum. Can I go now?" Harry asked, darting excited glances in Ron's direction.

"Yes, Harry. Be sure to say good-bye to Rose, and owl us when you get settled." There probably would have been another mandatory, "Yes, Mum" from Harry on this point, if he hadn't taken off to find Ron so very quickly.

James shot her an amused glance. "I'll make sure he boards okay, Lils, and fetch Rosie back, too, before Molly just ups and takes her home with her," he said, starting off in the direction of the Weasleys with the same amble he still had left over from their own Hogwarts days.

Lily watched him go, suddenly feeling strangely bereft. That was foolish, she knew. Harry was fine; he'd be safe and happy at Hogwarts, and he'd be back with them for Christmas. There was nothing to be sad about; his time had come, was all. He was still her Harry.

James had headed toward the train with Ron and Harry in tow, Rose's hand nestled firmly in her father's. Ron's older brothers had already boarded before their little brother in a show of the superiority their age had dealt them. Lily waved at the boys; all three, including James, waved back, and Rose did, too, when Harry suddenly broke from the pack and made back in Lily's direction at a run.

Before Lily could ask him anything, Harry plowed into her, wrapping his arms around her waist, nearly knocking the air out of her. His glasses smushed themselves against her chest. "Love you, Mum," he mumbled.

Lily smiled, and put her hand on his dark hair. "I love you, too, Harry," she said, and then Harry was off again, to where James and Ron were waiting.

Lily swallowed hard and waved again, and kept waving until the train started off and was lost, out of sight, around the corner.


End file.
